That happened again, there's
a really cool part in that song. Ever singing march we onward,
victors in the midst of strife. That sounds like every day, because
we are, we're victors. Victors in Christ, he's already
won this for us. But we're still in strife every
day. But we are victors in the midst of it. These songs, man
they are some good stuff. So again, like I said, I preached
from Philippians a couple weeks ago for Tanner's wedding. And
it kind of brought up some things I wanted to say for a while anyway.
So I'm taking that, I kind of made it specific to how it would
work for a man and wife beginning their life together. But it also
obviously very much applies to each of us. So there's Two kind of directions
we go here, and the first one is it is an absolute perfect
picture of the gospel of Christ in six verses. Christ, who being in very nature
God. So Christ equal in every single
way to God the Father. It says, in very nature, he is
God. That means glory, in power, in
very essence, Christ is equal to God, from the very beginning,
from before the beginning of time. But he did not consider
that equality with God something to be used for his own advantage,
is one way it's put, or to be grasped onto, or clung to. He
did not consider that equality something that he absolutely
had to hold onto when he had every right to hold onto that
equality. Rather, he made himself nothing. That sentence doesn't really
capture what that means. So you've got Christ who is equal
to God. He created this world that we
know. He was there before time began.
He is the ruler of all things. And he made himself nothing.
It didn't make himself just lesser than God or a lesser version
of God. It uses the word nothing for
a specific purpose. It says he took the very nature
of a servant. This is the king of all glory
making himself nothing. Being made into human likeness
and being found in appearance as a man. Christ made himself to be part
of his own creation. That's something that is really,
really hard to comprehend. Christ is so much more than we
even fathom. Time doesn't apply to Christ. Space, size, everything that
we judge, basically everything that we sense in this world,
time, space, all created by Christ. They're just part of his creation.
He's outside of all of that. That'd be like an author who's
writing a book, putting himself in the book as a character. But in so much more of a grand
way, because he's so much more than just an author. He's everything. And he made himself nothing.
Again, just by saying, rather he made himself nothing, that's
trying to put something really big into human terms. Similar to the beginning by saying
he's in very nature God. Christ is God, but yet is separate. Another thing that we cannot
comprehend at this point. Someday maybe. I'm not sure if
we'll care at that point, if we'll be with him. But those
are things that blow my mind. Like I can't, I read that and
I have a tough time understanding it, let alone getting up here
and explaining it. So Christ, the creator of all things, the
ruler of all things, the prince of peace, the high priest, the
everything, made himself to be nothing. Humbled himself in becoming obedient
to death. Now all of this was not a requirement. Christ wasn't required by the
Father. He didn't say, Christ, you have
to become nothing and become obedient to death. Christ was
equal to God. It says that. In very nature,
he was God. He chose to become nothing. He voluntarily became nothing,
obedient to death. to be required would seem to
say that the beginning point wasn't equal, that God would
have to have a higher point, a higher level than Christ to
say that you are required to do anything. So in any of this,
Christ could have said no. Christ could have said, no, I
don't want to give up my level, my position. But he didn't. He willingly took
on that role. of becoming nothing and becoming
obedient to death. He willfully took this position
simply for the love of his father and the love of his father's
will. And his father's will was to save those people that were
his. then it moves on and becomes
absolutely victorious. Now it talks about, well it says
obedient to death, but not even just death. It says to death,
even death on a cross. So it's not just death. When
someone was hung on a cross, it was meant to say that that
person was cursed. And that is absolutely appropriate
in this situation. Christ was cursed by his own
father. He came to this world, became
nothing, became a servant to those that he created, to his
own creation. Became subservient to man in a way that he would be put
to death at the hands of these men and cursed by his own father. And he didn't have to do any
of this. It was not required. He could have stopped it at any
moment. He says to Peter, shortly before they take him away, I
could call legions of angels right now and put a stop to this
immediately. And he could have. He could have done that from
the very beginning or all the way up until the end. He could
have stopped all of it. But he did not. Because he knew
it had to be done. He knew his father's will. He
loved his father and would do anything to please his father.
And to please his father, he would save all of those that
his father gave him. And he was victorious. Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that
is above every name. That at that name of Jesus every
knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
Every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is our Lord to the
glory of God the Father. So, verses six through 11, Philippians
2, that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is God. He subjected himself to becoming
nothing, to death, to death on the cross, to be cursed for all
the sins of his people. And he did it in the perfect,
most victorious way possible, and is now at the right hand
of the Father, ruling over the world. That is the simplest declaration
of the gospel there is, and it's the truth. But when you go back to verse
five, it says, right before all of that, depending on which version
you've got. One of them, it says, in your
relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ
Jesus. Your attitude should be the same
as that of Christ Jesus, right before it declares exactly what
Christ's attitude was. What was that mindset? What was
that attitude? First, again, Christ was described
as equal to the Father. He was, in very nature, God.
He did not consider equality with God something to be used
to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant. Christ's love for
his Father was proved in this. Though he was equal with the
father, he relinquished his divine rights and privileges, taking
a subservient position in order to fulfill his father's desires.
And he was under no requirement to submit to that. He was under no natural requirement
to submit. He did it only out of love. Love
for his father and love for his father's will. That is the mindset
of Christ. He submitted himself to something
we can't even describe let alone understand. The kind of, I don't even know what to, demotion
certainly doesn't cover it, but the kind of fall that he took
from where he was to where he went. He did that simply out
of love for his father and his father's will. Submitted himself
in the very most basic definition of that word. So if it says that's how we're
supposed to be in our relationships, the same mindset as Christ. It
says, God created all men and women as equals, husbands and
wives as equals. It is written, so God created
man in his own image. In the image of God, he created
him. Male and female, he created them. All men created equal. We as Americans are pretty familiar
with that phrase, all men created equal. It can obviously be found
in the Declaration of Independence. In that initial document of our
founding country, it was meant in a different way than what
I'm talking about today. In the Declaration of Independence,
when they say, all men are created equal, and I'll get the rest
of this correct, that are endowed by their creator with certain
unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness. So that's making the point that
all of us are equal, no one is better than anyone, and we all
deserve the freedoms that are given to us by living in this
country. No one is better than anyone
else, and we all deserve the same. What this is saying today
is not exactly the same as that. When it says all men are equal,
it's talking about the exact opposite, about being better
than anyone else. What it's saying is that we are no worse than
anyone else. We all are on the same level,
but we're all on a really bad level. We're all extremely in
need of some sort of hope. some sort of salvation. Each
and every one of us in this world are equal in that mindset. Equal deserving, so we are 100%
equally sinful in every way. And equally deserving, not the
prosperity of America, we're all equally deserving the judgment
and wrath of God. That's the difference. We're
all dead in our sins with absolutely no hope on our own. No way out. Can a dead person improve their
predicament? Absolutely not. And we're all,
every one of us, equal in our sin and death. This happened
at the very beginning with Adam's original sin, and we continue
to add to it every second of every day. So knowing this, how
do we take this scripture and apply it? In your relationships
with one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. This
was Christ's mindset. He is God, completely equal to
the Father, subjecting himself to a demotion of magnitude that
we can't comprehend, simply out of love for his Father and for
the people that the Father has given him. So just like Christ,
we have equality to each other. But we are not to consider that
something to cling to. We are to love others, all others. We are not to put ourselves above
anyone. We are not to, this is gonna sound weird, especially
in the climate, the political climate of today, we are not
to be offended. And that is something that's hard for me to say. But
it is, it's true. We have no right to be offended. Christ had every right to say
throughout this entire process of salvation, to say, no, I am
God. I won't subject myself to this. But he didn't. So how can we
think of ourselves as above anyone? If Christ wasn't offended at
the idea of dying for scum like me and you, how can we be offended
by anything another man does? I read a book a long time ago
called Unaffendable. It was okay. There was some really good stuff
in there. You had to wade through some junk, but that was the basic
premise of this book. We have no right to be offended
by anything because we are no better than anyone. We are equally
corrupt and vile as every man and woman on earth. To be offended
means you actually hold yourself up a little higher than whatever
you're offended by. Can you honestly say you're better than anything?
That you can put yourself above anyone? We don't have that right. If Christ, who is God, who is
perfect, who is good and pure and wonderful in every way, is
willing to love us and die for us, despite our sin, How can
we, who are corrupt, who are stained, who are sinful, possibly
be offended by another man? We have no right. So love. It says to have the same mindset
as Christ. Love. Love others. Love those people you disagree
with. Love those people that push your buttons. Love those
people that drive you crazy. Easy to say, really hard to do. But it's still true. You're no better than them. If
Christ didn't think of himself as too good for you, how can
you think that you're too good for anyone? And honestly, not only is this
a good thing in the fact that we're trying to keep the same
mindset as Christ, but this will be great for your life here.
I mean, it'll make your life and time here better if you can
let go of anger and being offended and walking around this world
like you're just so frustrated and fed up with everybody. Let
go of that. Focus on love and how incredibly
loved you are by Christ. He thinks you're precious. Who cares what's going on in
this world? You will live a happier life
that way. Now, am I good at this? No. I'm possibly the worst. But that doesn't make it any
less true. So, when I started going through
this, I was drawn directly to verse 6 through 11, and that's
the gospel of Christ. And it brought me back to that
fifth verse where it says, this is your attitude, it should be
the same as Christ Jesus. So this is a little different
for me. Generally when I preach, I only talk. I don't talk much
about us. I don't like to. But when the
Bible specifically says, this is how you should be with each
other, we should listen. I mean, it specifically says
those words. Your attitude should be the same
as that of Christ Jesus. And then it specifically says,
he gave himself up out of love for his father He didn't hold
himself in a position that he easily could have. He deserved.
Then we can't either. We don't deserve it, first of
all. We were never in a position of power or a position of glory.
So love, people. Love each other. Love others. Just love. But, I still wanna come back
to the fact that the best part of this is still verse six through
11. What Christ has done for us. That's the gospel and that's
what truly matters. And honestly, if that's what we keep in our
hearts and keep in our minds daily, then loving others becomes
a lot easier. When you can continuously remember
each day, and this is what I pray for all the time is that God
just make me remember how loved I am by him. If you can keep that as the first
thought in your mind, everything else falls into place. You'll
still have difficulties, you'll still have tough times, you'll
still have tough days, but what can overshadow that? Nothing. That's the answer, nothing
can overshadow that. So remember and pray to remember
and pray for me to remember. I'd appreciate that. What Christ
did for his people, the position he was in, the position he put
himself in, what he went through, what he did for you specifically,
Each person by name, it wasn't just for an entire group that
he was just hoping, you know, just thinking of it as a group.
He knew each one of you specifically as he was going through every
moment of his life. Every person of his is so precious
to him. Remember that as you go through
your life, as you go through your day. If you can keep that
in the forefront of your mind, you will love others. It will
happen. The anger that you walk around
with, and when I say you, I mostly mean me. I'm not pointing at
anybody here. I walk around with anger. This
world makes me mad. Can't help it. Just does. People
drive me crazy. There are certain things that
drive me nuts. I could list them, I'm not going
to. No one cares. But if you can keep in front
of all those thoughts, pray that God keeps in front of all those
thoughts, Eric, you are loved by Jesus Christ. Everything else
tends to fade away, isn't quite as vivid, isn't quite as powerful.
You still have to deal with those things, but if you can keep that
in your mind, and you keep that thought strong, and I'm not good
at it, but I just pray for it all the time. And it's not up to you. I mean,
keeping it in the forefront of your mind, yeah, of course, try.
But if you're saved, you're saved. That's over. That part's done.
I'm just talking about getting through each day. Trying to love
others like we're supposed to. You know, saved is finished when
Christ did it. The minute Christ said it was
finished, it was. But we're still here. We're still
living each day. We're still going through this
world that is absolutely cursed in every way. So we have to deal
with these things. But man, we have the truth. We
have Christ. We have the fact that we're precious
to him, that we belong to him. That trumps everything that can
ever happen to you in this world. And there's some terrible things
that can happen, I'm not trying to say, and I hate to even say
that out loud. But it does trump everything. So, yeah, we're supposed to keep
the same mindset and frame of mind as Christ by loving others.
Well, it's a lot easier to do that when we just keep remembering
and thinking about what Christ has done for us. If Christ has done that for us,
we are permanently and forever loved by Him. Everything's good. Even when things feel bad, everything's
good. I'm just gonna end right there. So we will, actually let's pray. Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you
for your love. We thank you that your mindset
is love. That you love your father so much and his will that you
would love us the way you did and the way you still do. And
show it in the way that you have. In doing what you have done for
us, giving your own blood and be cursed by your own father, that we can be loved and be yours
forever. Please bless us all in the way
that we can remember that each day. Help us to look to you,
not to ourselves, not to this world. Help us look to you and
your love and your permanent, powerful salvation. that is finished,
that we can have strength and hope and joy and rest in. Help us, Lord, just to be so
thankful, to remember and think of you every day, now that you
have finished everything that is necessary for us to be loved
and be saved by you. We pray all of this, Lord, knowing
that you listen and you love us. And we pray this in your
name, amen.